Anatoli
"Enjoying your new position?" Mikhail's tone is infused with sarcasm.
"Yes, thank you for asking."
He shakes his head at me. "You're loving this, aren't you?"
"What do you want?" I don't have time for this shit. I have things to do and he's the last person I want to speak to.
"I want to talk to you about Avrora."
"Why?" A spark of annoyance pulls at my insides but I tamp it down.
"Really?" His eyes blaze. "Are you serious? It's obvious I'd ask about her."
"What do you want to know?" I don't give a fuck how riled up he is, or about his attempt to point out the obvious. He can't do shit, so if he wants an answer from me, he needs to answer the fucking question I'm asking him.
"I want my girl back."
His girl.
Hearing him call her that shouldn't create any response in me other than the pleasure I already feel for cutting him down. But something akin to rage stirs in me.
"Keeping her is ridiculous, and so is marrying her," he sneers. "You have Scarfoni Inc. and I'm sure you can find some way to take Galitze Developments as well. Surely we can come to some agreement for you to give Avrora back to me."
Could we?
Should I?
This is definitely the ultimate pissing match, where I'm being the greedy motherfucker by keeping his woman. On the other hand, I myself admitted Avrora was a distraction. That's a good enough reason to let him have her. Right?
As soon as the reasoning takes residence in my mind, I conjure those pouty lips, her face flushed with arousal, her nipples ripe, begging to be sucked. All for me. Not him. In those moments, she wasn't thinking of him. She was thinking of me.
Whether I like it or not, that wild attraction exists between us. But that's not why I'm going to keep her. Nor the mere fact that I want to keep her because Mikhail wants her. I need to keep her to punish Uther and avenge the dead.
"Well? What's it going to be?" he demands, his question grating on my nerves.
"No," I reply flatly, much to his dismay. I reach into my back pocket and pull out the engagement ring he gave Avrora. His face colors fiercely when I hold the ring up so he can see it, then place it in his pocket. "She won't be needing this anymore."
"You motherfucking bastard," he grunts. "You won't get away with this. I don't care who you are. I'm not going to let you get away with any of it. Taking my girl and my company."
"Dear Mikhail." My voice takes on a sing-song edge of mockery. "Bring it the fuck on. I'll be waiting for you."
He scoffs at me and walks out. Good. There is no reasoning here nor the chance to come to any agreement. At least now I'm certain of his hostility toward me.
Leif can tell me to keep my mind open all he wants, but I already know the Obshchak position won't go to Mikhail.
Everyone has had the weekend to think about which side they're on. Clearly he's chosen to set himself against me, and that's fine by me.
I glance at the no-longer-steaming cup of coffee in my hand and top it up with some hot water. I then head back into the hallway and stop mid-stride when I find Zakh leaning against the wall, looking like he was waiting for me.
The stern stare he issues me confirms he was. With one ankle crossed over the other, he appears jovial, like he would be the light-hearted one of the bunch, but there's a dangerous vibe about him. I sensed it straight away when we first met and it was there last night at Raventhorn Hall.
As such, I wonder if this is round two with brother number two.
"Come to say your piece?" I ask when he continues to stare.
"Maybe. But I'm not a man who wastes words." His voice is rusty, a little like that of a smoker.
"What kind of man are you?"
He looks me up and down with scrutiny. Not the kind that displays arrogance but the kind that suggests he's assessing me because he wants to determine if he can trust me.
"The kind who isn't stupid."
"What exactly does that mean?"
He chuckles and gives me a wide grin. "Mikhail means it, you know," he states, letting me know he was listening in and ignoring my actual question. "He'll destroy your ass for taking his woman."
"I didn't doubt him."
"Good."
"Is that seriously what you wanted to tell me?" I quirk a hard brow as I try to figure him out.
"No. It's not." He straightens to match my height and looks me up and down again. "Mikhail loves Avrora. He fucks around all the time with all sorts of women, but he does love her."
Hearing the confirmation of love rouses what is undoubtedly jealousy, and I could almost laugh at myself. "I gathered that."
"He loves her, but that's not the only reason he wants to marry her. Nor is it because of gaining partnership with Galitze Developments. She's a little more valuable than that and she doesn't even know it."
My interest piques, rocketing to the sky. "What kind of value?"
"How about you find out? I think it will be better that way. Take a good look at her inheritance. At the vineyard her grandfather left her."
"The vineyard?" I give him a deadpan look. I'd seen details about the vineyard in her records, but it didn't really look like it was that valuable. Just a little family business in the Russian countryside.
"Yes, the vineyard. When you find out what I'm talking about, remember it was me who gave you the information. Then maybe you can trust me, brother. I'm away until next week. We can talk then."
Pressing his lips together, he turns and walks away, leaving me with that interesting bit of news I'll be looking into straight away.